HIGH GEAR PAGE

Village gays won't budge

SAN FRANCISCO-Hundreds group of paid extras, discreetly move. The filming had to proof San Francisco gays coughed, coupled in man-woman pairs. ceed with a predominantly.gay up $15 for the privilege of appear The Hallowe'en party filming background. ing in a Hallowe'en shooting of quickly turned into a minor pólity Behind this filming incident. the Village People's feature film, ical incident, as the gays moved lies a radical transformation in Can Stop The Music, only to find into the spots reserved for the the image of the disco group that they were to appear behind a “rent-a-straights” and refused to which came to prominence two years ago as a "gay ensemble." Music industry promoter Jacques Morali brought the group together and built their entire image on his version of macho drag stereotypes. The Vit lage People were soon at the top of the charts and Anita Bryant' Ministries was proclaiming, with much distress, that “it is alarming that this is one of the top recording groups in the nation.”

Bad imitations

(Cont'd from page 6).

the bullies. I want to Live!"

A few months later I came out. lost my job, was abandoned by all of my acquaintances and most of my family and friends but for the first time in my memory I breathed deeply without pain. I was free. For the first time in my life. I could be me..No more dodging questions No more anxious moments. Finally. Brian Mc. Naught was at peace.

But it didn't last long. The bullies returned. Now my life, and that of most of my gay and lesbian friends, is at odds with that of the bullies. This time the bullies' taunts seem even more sinis-

ter This time the bullies tactics seem even more unfeeling. This time the bullies are gay and I find their mockery inexcusable

Gay and lesbian bullies, like their heterosexual counterparts are those people who have a preconceived notion of how we all inust live our lives It ours is not like theirs. we are the enemy and fair game for their war of intimidation

Do you remember the bullies of the past calling us "quèers"? Gay and lesbian bullies insist we call ourselves faggots and dykes bullies of the past mocked us because we wore a St Christopher medal in the shower Bullies today scream at people who claim to be gay and eli gious Bullies from the heterosexual world taunted us for not double-dating to the drive-in Bulhes in the homosexual world harass us because our relationship is monogamous

In the six years I have been struggling for Gay Civil Rights, I have been shunned by angry individuals for not wearing blue jeans to a speaking engagement because blue jeans are a sign of the Revolution I have watched lesbians and gay men hoced by

other gay men and lesbian, dur-

ing Gay Pride marches because they were Catholics

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tened to fieris speak with frustration about the first gay organization meeting they attended and vow it was their last becuse "one clement ran the show and intimidated everyone”.

Struggling for the civil rights of gay people and the liberation of all other oppessed groups prompts many of us in the gay community to adopt pretty strong viewpoints on a variety of subjects. Many of us see an interrelatedness between our oppression and the economic interests

of the state. The role of religion, the co-opting of the Middle Class, the power of transnational corporations are all subjects of analysis and debate. Some of us even have a strong beliefs about the political implications of what we were and how we structure Our relationship. But most gay and lesbian spokespersons I know realize that you can't bully people into political consciousness.. Most of women and men struggle for an identity. Unfortunately, this is not true of everyone

Gay bullies can be ruthless. They are insecure and easily intimidated. Because of that they strike first. They boo. They hiss. They interrupt speeches. They mock. They mimic. They harangue their homosexual victims into political compliance.

Bryant's alarm was a bit premature: with every commercial success, the Village People have further downplayed their gay Hodo told one interviewer. image. Group "hard hat" David "Don't call it a gay group. Not all time of the filming of Can't Siep our members are gay." By the

Music, promoter Morali was saying that the film would have "no overt reference to gay lifestyles and would earn a PG Courtesy of THE BODY POLITIC rating."

More gays

hired by DC

Mayor Marion Barry continues to appoint lesbians and gay men to city positions in the nation's capital, according to the Gay Activists Alliance of Washington. DC

The group's Mayora! Appointments Project has resulted in two recent appointments of gay men. Bob Davis was named a member of the Board of Library Trustees. and Tom Chorlton was sworn in on the Statewide Health Coordinating Council.

women, the D.C. Securities Energy Advisory Committee and Advisory Committee. Citizens Commission on Arts and Humanities.

In the early days of the movement. Gay Liberation was popu-ing, and there are current openOther nominations are pendlar'y symbolized by the butterflyings on the Commission for Like a caterpillar, the homosex ual was soon emerging from a cocoon of isolation into the multi-colored, always-varied. winged creature of fredom. Those of us who take seriously the struggle for civil liberties must protect the rights of gay and lesbian people to emerge at their own pace into their own form.

project contact GAA. 1469 Church St. N.W.: Washington. DC 20005: (205) 547-3104. Courtesy of THE ADVOCATE

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ADVICES from Sister Mary Frances

Signed, Joyously Jilted

Dear Jilted, To err is human, to suffer

Welcome one and all to "Ask and believed she was too. Last Sister Ma:y Frances". Offering a week she tells me that she's getsorely needed service to the ting married. To a man. I've been "Community", we'll be here in invited to the wedding. each issue sharing scathing Do I go? advice to your burning (printable) questions. We stand on "poetic license" to THE unbiased authority on absolutely everything. Our mottos is "If we don't excessively is nutty. We believe know, we'll ask someone who that if you love her you'll hope doesn't know either." So write to she'll be happy even though you us in strictest confidence, of know she won't. Going to watch a course, and ask about any nagsacrifice is morbid, on the other ging problem. This month we're hand, have I got a girl for you, prepared to answer our first anxIOUS reader.

Dear Sister Mary Frances,

I've been dating a woman for 14 months. I was getting serious แมน

See ya' next issue, S.M.F.

Send your burning questions to: Sister Mary Frances, c/o HIGH GEAR, P.O. Box 6177, Cleveland, Ohio 44101

Gay grad student information

Washington, DC. The American Psychological Association has collected information for gay applicants to graduate schools. The APA's Task Force on the Status of Lesbian and Gay Male Psychologists receives many questions from prospective graduate students who fear that being open about their sexual

orientation would jeopardize their acceptance at some graduate institution. A copy of the responses from graduate departments, listed by schools, is available from the Social and Ethical Responsibility Office, APA Monitor, 1200 Seventeenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036.

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